Post-Match Thread and Ratings Oldham Athletic 0-0 Southend United

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United slipped back into the League Two relegation zone after being held to a frustrating 0-0 draw at Oldham Athletic.

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[Leigh_Seasider]

Well, as I said at half time we are definitely well organised under MM and hard to beat. We press well, we seem to do our job more than adequately at the back. But our lack of ability to stick the ball away has again cost us. Positives ... we had chances, but chances mean nothing unless they're converted. We looked far more like scoring with Emile on. Second game running I'm frustrated, as the other team didn't look anything special and we had the measure of them. We should've got the 3 points. No way did Oldham deserve a draw.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

Should have won. Bringing on Halford seemed odd and in turn kind of forced his hand a bit once Sim got injured by bringing on Dimi. I'm asking a few questions in training if I'm Holmes.

Feels like a game we'll look back on and regret

 

[Floval Flyer]

Missed chances, subbing forwards for defenders, back in the bottom 2 !

That’s all I have to say... ?

reaches for beer ?

 

[Jcd]

Really disappointing - They were poor and absolutely there for the taking. It is hard enough when your strikers are on the pitch and can't convert good chances let alone when you take them off for the last ten mins.

Barmy

 

[MisterStubbs]

Two points dropped, it's a simple as that. Oldham were hopeless but once again we haven't been able to put the ball in the back of the net and it's cost us once again today. Whilst you can't blame MM for those on the pitch missing the chances we created, we can and absolutely should question the substitutions he has made this afternoon which did NOTHING to win the game. For those who like to slag off Emile, can you tell me if we were a better team with or without him? It didn't look like to me that he was struggling with an injury so why the hell did he bring him off? We were firmly in control at the time, go for the f'ing win MM and bring Goodship or move Akinola alongside Emile. Halford and JD offer us absolutely nothing, the latter coming on to replace Sim when you have Holmes and Goodship on the bench screamed to me that MM was happy with the point which isn't good enough considering Barrow pulled out another win our of their asses today.

We now find ourselves back in the relegation zone despite performing well over the last few weeks.. we should have pulled away from the drop but instead we are in it. Today the blame lays firmly with the manager.. it was cowardly from him as far as I'm concerned.

 

[kentblues]

This was a game we really needed to win, disappointing. On the plus side they didn't look that much like scoring. We had enough chances to put it well to bed and were unlucky hitting the woodwork twice but the finishing was not up to standard.

I think it was a mistake to take Acquah off, despite the complaints about his finishing we looked more dangerous with him on the pitch.

The whole point is that absolutely they didn’t like scoring. Yet we reacted by bringing on more and more goal shy defenders and midfielders...

 

[sufc4life21]

Failure in January not to bring in striker or 2 is probably gonna cost us are football league status.

 

[Tinks]

Poor thinking on the subs in my view and almost like MM was thinking -we had our chances so best go for the draw

 

[Medway Blue]

That feels like a loss. Oldham were absolute dog **** and there for the taking. The points we managed to pick up against the top teams were great, but these are the sorts of teams we should be picking up wins against if we want to stay up.

Once again, I've no problem with Acquah starting. We need to play a big bloke up there to be a nuisance and create space for otheres. Sure we'd all like somebody better than Acquah but we don't have anybody to take his place. If it's Acquah or no big bloke up front then I know which one I'd choose - anything else and the ball will keep coming straight back and putting us under continuous pressure again, which is what everybody was moaning about earlier in the season.

I can see why Halford came on as we still needed that presence up there, but the substitutions were frustrating. Felt like a point was being settled for despite all 3 being there for the taking, so why Goodship and Holmes were still on the bench at the final whistle I have no idea.

 

[Born In A Blue Shirt]

Really frustrated with that. Another solid defensive display, but once again another game passes without us scoring a goal. I’ve been impressed with Acquah in recent weeks, and we definitely create more chances with him in the side. However, as a professional footballer he had three chances today that have to go in. The first header from a peach of a ball from Ferguson, straight at the keeper. The second a peach of a ball from Hackett-Fairchild, hits the bar from 6 yards out. The last a 1-on-1 from a great through from Akinola, on a plate.

He wasn’t alone though - all of our attacking players need to start taking responsibility.

The positives are at least we are creating chances and at least we dominated the game. Oldham couldn’t cope defensively in all honesty. I thought Hackett-Fairchild was excellent, but Akinola looked knackered in the second half and it should have been Holmes to come on and offer some creativity in the final third.

Three points today would have made it possible to take a point against Tranmere on a Tuesday and be happy with our work. As it is now, we are going to have to go the hard way round - we have to attack and go for the win. Risky approach, but frankly 0-0’s aren’t going to keep us up in the position we find ourselves in.

 

[kentblues]

Disappointing, should have won that. I’m sure everyone’s favourite scapegoat Acquah will take most of the abuse for the draw but we looked far better with him on the pitch. He was unlucky not to score with a couple of good headers, there was only one finish where he tried to lob the keeper that was actually poor. His replacement was much worse. Should have stayed on.

Compared to the others Acquah looked like a world class goal threat. And remember we are very very happy with our attacking options- which at the moment it seems is pretty much Acquah..

 

[Billericay Dickie]

Hate to say it, but consider that as two points dropped.Sadly, they could prove crucial in the final analysis. Think we need to pin our sights on overhauling Port Vale. If we had won there instead of capitulating then we would already be above them!

 

[brigg blue]

Just a reminder that there are 13 games still to go and we have conceded 3 in the last 6 games.

Today was a frustrating game and we should have won, Emile was unlucky with a couple of the headers one with a great save the other somehow didn't go over the line.

Special mention for Clifford he was excellent once again

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Compared to the others Acquah looked like a world class goal threat. And remember we are very very happy with our attacking options- which at the moment it seems is pretty much Acquah..

If we are-we shouldn't be.Genuine attacking options get you wins.What we've got doesn't.

 

[RobQ]

Oldham's first clean sheet at home today. Says it all. Agree strange substitutions. One of the few games this season where we created more than the opposition, and could have gambled and thrown another attacker on and gone two up top. Hope we don't rue this as a missed opportunity. Thought all the starters put a real shift in again. Roll on

 

[Brett Angle]

Effort: VERY GOOD

Quality: VERY POOR

MoM: CLIFFORD

Faith we are going to stay up: DECLINING RAPIDLY.

The End.

 

[RHB]

Well I'm going to take the positives from this game. We defend now as well as any team in the division, our defensive record over the last few games is a testament to that, Positive 1. We have all been critical of our approach play over the season, well, today we were sticking balls in from all angles, Positive 2. My third positive may seem a bit strange, but our ability to hit the target has been dire, not today, what was it 3 or 4 shots on target, so Positive 3. The final positive I take from the game is that Emile was on target more than once, I know he didn't score but the fact that he hit the target gives me hope. You could argue that I'm naive to take this view, but as we dropped two points I find it better for my blood pressure to look on the stuff I was pleased with rather than sounding off over something I have absolutely no control over (nor for that matter, would I want to).

Man of the Match - Tom Clifford by a country mile. If he continues to develop at this rate high levels of the game will be his before too much longer.

 

[Derbyshire Blue]

I haven’t once been in the Molesley out camp, but I do wonder if we did make a change if someone could get these guys scoring and give us the much needed new manager bounce!

But who?

 

[dannypav]

Two games and we still don’t know if our keeper is any good - that’s a positive right ?